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Business rates hike puts Hackney's tech clusters at risk, claims council

Hackney Council has pressured the government to reconsider the planned increase in business rates next year, claiming that the rates hike risks choking innovation and puts the borough’s tech clusters at risk.

According to the council, more than 370 businesses in the borough will have to swallow a rise in their rates of between £10,000 and £100,000 from April next year, with further rises likely each year until 2022.

It said that following the government’s national revaluation, Hackney businesses will face increases of, on average, 46% with some larger businesses looking at a potential increase of 297% over the next five years.

In light of such steep hikes, the council warns that its innovative and creative businesses, particularly those centered around Tech City, could slide into stagnation once the higher costs begin to bite.

In a letter to the Chancellor Philip Hammond, Cllr Guy Nicholson, Cabinet Member for Planning, Business and Investment, has requested that the government delay the rolling out of the new system or spread rates increases over a longer period.

Nicholson said that dramatic increases in property values in the last decade, particularly in areas such as Shoreditch, had massively distorted the borough’s rates revaluation, with most local businesses failing to see an attendant rise in profits.

He said: “Hackney’s diverse business community is made up of those that have been serving Hackney’s communities for years trading alongside the entrepreneurial start-ups at the heart of Tech City and the creative industries.

“One of London’s most popular and innovative boroughs to invest into and do business in is now at real risk of sliding into stagnation, forcing relocation instead of expansion, and replacing job creation and thriving business clusters with unemployment and empty buildings.”

Nicholson went on the urge the government to rethink what he described as a ‘hugely disproportionate tax rise’ which jeopardised jobs and economic growth in the borough.

The government’s revaluation of business rates has come in for significant criticism since it published its valuations, with many arguing that the capital will be disproportionately hit in comparison to the rest of the UK.

In total London businesses face a huge £885m a year collective rates increase when the new system comes into force in April.

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